


Hide Away

by General_Button



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Friends With Benefits, Light Angst, M/M, Mutual Pining, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, bottom!shiro, top!Keith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-12
Updated: 2018-12-12
Packaged: 2019-09-17 02:13:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16965789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/General_Button/pseuds/General_Button
Summary: Shiro thought he could remain impartial. He’d thought—foolishly—that if this was all he could have, then he would take it.





	Hide Away

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Helvetious](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Helvetious/gifts).



> A (early) birthday present for Helvetious who requested mutual pining from Shiro’s perspective with a scene where they both forget themselves and it gets Soft. Hope you enjoy!

 

Shiro wasn’t supposed to get in this deep. He wasn’t supposed to be doing this; _they_ weren’t supposed to be doing this.

He’d thought he could remain impartial. He’d thought—foolishly—that if this was all he could have, then he would take it.

He gnawed on his lower lip as Keith thrust his cock inside him. His hands caressed the sides of Shiro’s hips, holding him still while he fucked into him with several sharp thrusts.

“Keith,” Shiro breathed, swallowing down against a litany of words that threatened to escape. He tried to keep quiet, because it was when Keith was inside him, fucking him, that he wanted to let go and just _say it._

Keith leaned over him, covering the length of his back. Shiro could feel his breath huffing out over the back of his neck, and as Keith gave him a particularly harsh thrust, he pressed a kiss over his nape, grinding into his ass until a moan slipped out of Shiro’s mouth.

“You like that?” Keith asked, sliding his hand forward. He hooked it around Shiro’s thigh, tugging his legs further apart. It allowed Keith to change the angle, grinding his dick against Shiro’s prostate with more precision.

“Yeah. Yes, fuck,” Shiro moaned, leaning his head on the pillow of his arms. He loved being fucked; Keith’s cock was nice and thick, and Keith himself had a surprising amount of strength hidden away underneath his slender frame. Years out in space hadn’t left him wilting and worn; he was muscular and strong.

Shiro loved it.

After tugging him closer, as if it was possible to have Shiro any closer with his cock buried inside him, Keith kissed the back of his neck again, scraping his teeth over the skin. Shiro lifted himself onto his elbows, reaching blindly behind him. His hand grazed Keith’s hip, and Keith responded by nipping at Shiro’s jaw, breath hot against his throat.

Shiro could feel Keith’s hair tickling the back of his neck. He hadn’t bothered to put it up and it was sticking to his cheeks and jaw, framing his face beautifully.

Keith’s mouth was almost close enough to reach now, and Shiro had to resist the urge to turn his head a little more to the right and kiss him.

“C’mon, baby,” Keith said. Shiro reminded himself that it was just something Keith said in the heat of the moment. He didn’t _mean_ it.

Shiro fisted his cock, thinking about the way Keith said his name when he came. 

* * *

The worst part about the situation was that after everything was said and done, Keith went back to being, well, _Keith._

He cared about Shiro. There was no disputing that fact. They had been in each other’s lives for so long that Shiro was finding it difficult to even imagine a time when Keith would one day find someone he loved and settle down.

Keith was always kind to Shiro. Like the rest of the paladins he respected Shiro, but he was always checking up on him, making sure he was in good condition.

“You all right?” Keith asked, laying his hand on Shiro’s shoulder.

He hadn’t noticed how much Keith touched him until they started having regular sex; mostly because despite the extra contact they had on a regular basis, Shiro felt touch-starved for the way that Keith treated him outside of the bedroom.

“You took a blow to the head,” Keith reminded him, when Shiro didn’t immediately respond. “You went and got scanned, right?”

Shiro blinked at him. “Yeah.” He shook his head free of such thoughts, focusing instead on cleaning his bayard in his hands. “Yeah, I’m okay. I’m fine,” he added, when Keith didn’t look convinced.

“You sure? You seem like you’re spacing out a lot.”

Keith put both hands on Shiro’s head, his touch gentle, like he could feel where it hurt.

Shiro clenched his jaw. He wanted to knock Keith’s hands off his face, but that would be—

He shouldn’t care about Keith’s propensity towards affection and touch outside of sex. That was the whole point of the arrangement that they had struck up: they would have sex because both of them needed the release.

It would be easier if Keith would stop _touching_ him all the time.

“I’m fine,” Shiro repeating, yanking his head away from Keith’s hands. “Seriously, Keith. I hardly felt it. My helmet was in the way.”

“Uh huh,” Keith said doubtfully. “Get the scan.”

* * *

Once the sweat had cooled, and Keith pulled away from him, Shiro always felt like shit.

The sex was amazing. Keith treated Shiro wonderfully, focusing on Shiro’s pleasure far before his own, and every time it made words Shiro knew he couldn’t say build up in his throat, forming a hard knot of emotion.

Keith sat up next to him, raking his fingers through his sweaty hair. He glanced over at Shiro, and then raised his hand, moving it over Shiro’s shoulder, hovering uncertainly for a moment. The expression on his face was unfamiliar; pinched.

He opened his mouth, hesitating.

Shiro could imagine what might come out of it.

_We can’t do this anymore._

_You’ve been acting weird._

_You’re so obvious, Shiro, did you think I wouldn’t notice?_

“Shiro—”

“You should go,” Shiro interrupted, his heart pounding. That same knot was stuck in his throat, and no matter how much he swallowed at it, it wouldn’t go down, and it wouldn’t go away. He forced a lightness into his tone that he didn’t feel, leaning back on his hands. “We’ve got training drills to run in a few hours. Allura said she wasn’t going to go easy with this one.”

Even if this was all he could get with Keith—an outlet for his sexual frustration, fuckbuddies, friend’s with benefits, whatever—then he would take it. He wasn’t going to let his own feelings get in the way.

Keith averted his gaze, mouth forming a thin line. The vulnerability that Shiro had noticed was gone, replaced by something like anger.

“Yeah. I’ll see you later, Shiro.”

 _I love you,_ Shiro wanted to say.

“See you,” he said.

Once Keith had dressed and gone, Shiro buried his head between his knees, reminding himself that this was what he’d wanted.

Why couldn’t he just be happy with what he had?

* * *

They didn’t have sex for two weeks.

They went on missions and toured the galaxy, trying to rid the universe of the empire’s control. Shiro was almost glad for the respite, because he needed time to reorganize his thoughts and remind himself that this thing with Keith—it was okay.

It was okay that he was in love with Keith, and Keith would never love him back.

That was what he tried to tell himself every time that Keith touched him, or looked at him, or spoke with him in that gentle tone of his, eyes shining bright with affection.

Oh, Keith loved him, there was no doubt about that. But he saw him as a mentor, a leader, and a close friend. At the end of the day when all was said and done, what they were doing? It was just sex. It was supposed to be fun, and Shiro sure as hell enjoyed that part of it.  

Just a few hours after their latest mission, when Shiro wanted to do nothing more than return to his room and fall asleep, Keith backed him up against the wall leading into it, planting his hands firmly on Shiro’s hips.

“I want to suck you off,” he said. He pressed forward, stopping inches from Shiro’s mouth, and for a moment Shiro thought he was going to kiss him. They didn’t kiss often after they got going, maybe because that was too intimate for Keith’s tastes.

Shiro tried to pretend like he didn’t want to kiss Keith the way he’d been aching to do ever since they had started this whole thing.

Keith pushed him inside him room, closed the door, and then dropped to his knees, fumbling with the buckle of Shiro’s belt and the zipper on his pants. Once he’d figured it out, he licked his lips, hooking his fingers over the waistband to pull Shiro’s pants and underwear down.

“Whoa, Keith. Um, okay.” Shiro let out a laugh. “You won’t see me complaining.”

There was something different about the way that Keith was doing this. He seemed more determined than usual, and didn’t waste time once Shiro’s dick was out; he immediately wrapped his mouth around the head, and then slowly pushed forward, pulling Shiro into his mouth.

Shiro’s eyelids fluttered shut, his mouth falling open. Even though he didn’t know what brought it on, there was nothing he loved more than a good blowjob. He splayed his fingers against the wall, resisting temptation in the form of Keith’s head bobbing over his cock, his messy hair begging to be pulled.

“Fuck, Keith,” Shiro swore, hips twitching forward as Keith pulled his mouth off him. He licked the length of his cock, dragging the flat of his tongue up and down, pausing to tease at his balls. Then he moved back up and sucked on head, humming, and Shiro’s hips snapped forward of their own accord.

“God, Keith, I’m—” He stroked his fingers hesitantly through Keith’s hair, fingertips brushing his ears, and Keith made a sound, looking up at him through his lashes.

God, the sight of him was enough to bring Shiro right up to the razor edge.

Keith swallowed around him, moving his hands behind Shiro to grab at his ass. He pulled him forward, bobbing his head until his nose was pressing against Shiro’s pelvis. Squeezing Shiro’s asscheeks, he encouraged him to start thrusting.

Shiro’s head was spinning. He could feel beads of sweat sliding down his back. This wasn’t usually Keith’s game, so Shiro didn’t know how to navigate it. He thrust lightly, unsure. He knew what _he_ wanted to do, but what if Keith—

Apparently tired of waiting, Keith went back to bobbing his head, pulling all the way off Shiro’s cock before taking him as far down as he could.

“Where did you learn—” Shiro began, groaning when he felt Keith’s hands pull him, pushing him into the tight cavern of his throat, sending sharp jolts of pleasure flooding Shiro’s hips. He couldn’t help the way his hips kept twitching forward, inching away from the wall he was glued against.

Keith grabbed Shiro’s hand and put it in his hair, and the last vestiges of Shiro’s self-control snapped. He started fucking Keith’s mouth with abandon, holding him by his hair while Keith just took it, moaning in the back of his throat.

When he was about to come, Shiro pulled out of Keith’s mouth and leaned back against the wall. His dick was wet, covered in precome and spit. He reached to touch himself and finish it there, but Keith knocked his hand away and replaced it with his own, jerking him off with brutal precision while he teased the sensitive head with his tongue.

All the while he stared at Shiro, eyes glimmering with challenge. It felt like he was trying to convey something, but Shiro didn’t know how to interpret anything that was happening. He just stared back at him, thrusting sharply into Keith’s fists a few times until he came with a cut off shout, painting Keith’s fingers in come.

“Oh, god. Fuck.” Shiro bumped his head against the wall, closing his eyes so he could gather his breath and try to understand why that had just happened.

“What—” He looked down at Keith, who was examining the mess on his fingers. “What was that all about?”

“I just wanted to do something for you,” Keith replied, a little too casually. “You’ve been really tense the last couple of days.”

“Oh.”

Shiro didn’t know how to respond to that, so he decided to pretend that it meant as little to him as it probably did to Keith.

“Well, thanks. That felt amazing, Keith. Is there—” He paused, waiting for Keith to stand. “Want me to return the favor?”

“Nah.” Keith shuffled his feet, uncharacteristically hesitant all of a sudden. He reached for the tissue box near Shiro’s bed and wiped at his hands, shrugging. “Don’t worry about it.”

Shiro frowned. “You sure?”

“Yes.” Keith looked glanced at the door. “I’ll—I’ll just see you later. Have a good night, Shiro.”

Before Shiro could even consider questioning Keith’s motives any further, Keith left the room, leaving standing by his doorway, wondering what the hell had just happened.

* * *

Keith was avoiding him.

With regular missions and Voltron always in need, it was almost impossible to truly avoid each other, but Keith had withdrawn in way that was so reminiscent of their past that Shiro couldn’t help but feel hurt by it.

Keith had always been the type to brood. He wasn’t the emotional wreck that some (Lance) occasionally claimed him to be, but when he was upset, he tended to withdraw. He could be found staring off into space, offering few-word answers when confronted, and he had the habit of disappearing.

It was the kind of behavior that Shiro hadn’t seen in a while.

He instantly hated it.

They worked together as well as they did before, but there was always an undercurrent of _something_ that Shiro could never for the life of him figure out.

He eventually confronted him outside of his hangar, catching him just after a mission. Shiro hadn’t been sure that Keith would be there since it took him a minute to get to the red lion, but when Shiro walked up, Keith was only just exiting out of his lion.

“Hey,” Shiro said, waving his hand in greeting. “I was hoping I could talk to you.”

“Yeah?” Keith glanced at him, something flashing in his eyes that Shiro didn’t have the sense to parse. “What about?”

“Oh, uh.” He had honestly expected Keith to reject his advance, so he hadn’t thought through what he might actually say. The way Keith had been avoiding him, he hadn’t expected him to talk with him so easily. Shiro scratched the back of his neck, thinking fast. “You did…great out there today.”

Keith stared at him.

God, he was the worst at this. When it came to strategy and planning an attack, Shiro could push through no problem. But now, standing there, staring at the object of his affections who hadn’t looked at him properly for the last few days, he drew a blank.

“Really great. You piloted your lion well. Very well.”

Shiro considered slamming his head into the wall repeatedly until his brain started working. Keith pulled off his helmet and looked at it, turning it over in his hands.

“Shiro, is there something you wanted?”

“You.”

Keith’s head snapped up to look at him. Shiro started coughing, choking on it, hoping that it covered how red his face was slowly turning.

“I meant, _you_ should really eat. You haven’t had dinner yet, right? I’ll go with you!”

“Right, yeah.” Keith looked away. “I’m actually gonna do some more training, I think. You go on ahead without me.”

“Wait—”

Shiro winced internally. He hadn’t meant to stop him, but his brain kept telling his mouth to say things before he was ready.

Keith was looking at him again. Shiro swallowed.

“Can I—do you think I could see you tonight?” he asked, deciding, to hell with it. He really was that desperate, apparently.

Keith’s eyebrows rose. Usually Keith was the one who approached him, but the few times Shiro had made it clear he wanted to have sex, Keith never said no.

A part of him was hoping it would be true now.

“Yeah,” Keith said at length. “Yeah, okay. After training?”

Shiro smiled, relieved. “After training. I’ll see you then, Keith. Make sure you eat something.”

“I will. You don’t have to worry about me, Shiro.”

Keith’s eyes followed him all the way to the doorway, and Shiro felt the touch of his gaze linger a long time after.

* * *

Keith knocked on Shiro’s door a couple of hours later, smelling like sweat and the food goo he must have just finished eating.

“Sorry,” he said, once he noticed that Shiro was freshly showered. “I figured it’d be a waste to shower if—you know.”   

“It’s fine,” Shiro said. He had never told Keith how much he liked to smell of his sweat. That was the kind of thing gross couples told each other; not close friends. “Want to come in?”

Keith walked into the room, looking around at the space like his didn’t look exactly the same. Shiro kept things sparse, for reasons that seemed obvious to him until he saw rooms like Pidge’s and Lance’s, which were littered with junk.

Keith turned around and Shiro walked up to him, pulling him into a kiss.

He responded almost immediately, deepening the kiss, bringing Shiro closer by his waist.

“I missed—” _you,_ Shiro wanted to say, but caught himself just in time, “—this. Things have been hectic.”

“Saving the universe keeps us busy,” Keith joked. He stepped back and pulled his shirt up over head, tossing it to the side. Shiro followed suit, and soon they were dressed in only their underwear, kissing on Shiro’s bed.

It was lasting longer than usual. The kissing was mostly perfunctory—a way to get the mood going—and usually, Keith or Shiro would make their move, getting right to the main course.

But Shiro didn’t _want_ to move on from this. He _liked_ kissing Keith. The closeness; the shared breaths; the intimacy of it all was everything he craved. And the way that neither of them seemed particularly inclined to move away was telling of how long it had been for Keith. It wasn’t until his hand slipped down over Shiro’s bulge that he broke away, breathing hard.

“Lube’s over there,” Shiro said, pointing at the small storage unit built into the bed. Keith looked at him, and the expression on his face made Shiro avert his gaze until Keith reached for the compartment.

 _I shouldn’t be doing this,_ Shiro thought, watching the way his fingers moved over the bottle. _I’m compromised._  

Keith poured a generous amount over his fingers and then glanced back at Shiro.

“Ready, Shiro?”

Shiro nodded.

“All right.” Keith smirked, laying a hand on his knee. “Spread ‘em for me, baby.”

_God, I love him._

Keith prepped him patiently since it had been a while, working his fingers inside him with care. Shiro leaned his head back and focused on keeping his voice down, particularly when Keith started working at his prostate, brushing his fingers against the nerve over and over, making his cock twitch and drool messily on his stomach.

“Keith,” he breathed, once he was thrusting four fingers inside him. It was driving him a little nuts how well Keith teased him before it even began; times like these, he’d rather use a dildo or his own hands to prep so he wouldn’t have to deal with Keith’s murmured praises, completely reflexive and everything Shiro wanted. “Come on, you can fuck me.”

“I’m planning on it,” Keith said, with that same smirk. It was like whatever version of him Shiro had been dealing with was gone. Maybe he’d really needed the release and that was why he’d been avoiding him. When Keith finally pulled his fingers out, his smirk softened into a smile. “But I’m not gonna hurt you. How do you want to do this?”

He was kneeling between his legs, smoothing his palm over Shiro’s inner thigh in soothing motions.

Shiro should have turned around and said something like, ‘let’s do it like we always do, so I won’t accidentally say I love you to your face.’

Instead, because he was an idiot, he said, “I’m good like this.”

“Okay.”

Keith took off his underwear and then poured lube over his cock while Shiro shoved a pillow under his hips, scooting to where he felt comfortable. Then he spread his legs, but Keith shook his head and hooked Shiro’s legs over his shoulders, shifting into place.

Shiro’s breath caught in his throat on the first thrust. He immediately regretted choosing this position, because he wasn’t unable to look away as Keith’s face twisted with pleasure, lips parting with a soft groan as he bottomed out.

He leaned his hands on either side of Shiro, pushing Shiro’s legs towards his chest as he worked up to thrusting lightly, letting Shiro get used to it.

Shiro squeezed his eyes shut, holding back on a moan as the position pushed his cock nice and deep, easing past the initial burn. Pleasure burst up his spine as Keith rolled his hips and Shiro’s hand shot out, grabbing onto the back of his neck.

“Fuck. Forgot how much I liked it like this,” Shiro said without thinking, letting out a quiet moan when Keith picked up the pace. He didn’t touch his cock yet, absorbed in the feeling of getting fucked so thoroughly.

“We’ll have to do it like this more often,” Keith replied, something like hope in his voice. He leaned forward, grabbing Shiro by the hips to keep him in place while he thrust into him, gliding his cock up against Shiro’s prostate.

Shiro bit his lip, hands finding their way around the back of Keith’s neck and in his hair. He tugged on the loose strands as a hot wave of pleasure rolled over him, settling somewhere in his hips, making it impossible to concentrate.

“Keith,” Shiro said, barely more than a quiet moan, but Keith pressed his mouth to his chest, showing that he heard him with a dozen or so sharp thrusts that had Shiro’s head snapping back against his pillow. “Oh god, Keith, that feels—really good.”

When he managed to lift his head, he looked up and found Keith staring at him, an expression on his face that Shiro had never seen before. He was so close, hovering just a few inches away from Shiro’s face.

 _I love you,_ Shiro thought. As if sensing his thoughts, Keith’s expression went unbearably, achingly soft and Shiro’s breath caught in his throat. His eyes fluttered shut when Keith kissed him on the mouth, a soft sound erupting from the back of his throat.

The kiss started soft, but then Keith did a little hip swivel that had Shiro whining, a low, needy sound that spurred Keith on to kiss him harder, pushing his tongue in his mouth. As they kissed, Keith let Shiro’s legs fall from his shoulders so he could cup Shiro’s face while he fucked him, peppering his mouth and jaw with more warm, insistent kisses.

Shiro clung to his neck and shoulders, moaning when Keith went for his throat, pressing a line of kisses down the length and scraping his teeth against the juncture between his neck and shoulder. His breath ghosted hot over Shiro’s throat, broken by his grunts as he snapped his hips.

This was too intimate, too good. When Keith’s thumb brushed his lower lip, Shiro moved his head away, averting his gaze, trying desperately to yank himself back to reality.

They weren’t supposed to be kissing like they were lovers, not when it hurt Shiro so much to think about the aftermath.

Keith frowned, then moved to jerking him off, fisting Shiro’s cock. And because Keith seemed to know his body as well as he did his own, it didn’t take long for the pleasure to well up in Shiro’s pelvis, pushing him up against the edge.

“Close,” Shiro warned, replacing Keith’s hand with his own so Keith could focus on fucking him, thrusting the way he knew Shiro liked it, focusing now on getting him off.

“Go ahead, baby,” Keith breathed, looking like he was likely to follow just behind him.

Shiro choked on a sob as he came, biting on his lower lip so hard he tasted blood. If he hadn’t, he knew he would have said something irresponsible, something stupid that would ruin everything.

But maybe it already was.

After Keith came inside him, leaning his head against Shiro’s twitching knee, Shiro felt even less inclined to bask in the afterglow. He felt disgusted with himself and how much he’d liked the part where they had kissed when he knew—he _knew_ that Keith didn’t feel that way about him.

Keith pulled out of him and then started looking around for a small towel to clean up the mess on and inside Shiro, who sat up, staring down at lap reproachfully.

“Hey,” he said. Keith made no move to indicate he’d heard, so Shiro repeated it louder, looking directly at him.

“Hm?”

“Keith, I—I don’t think we should do this anymore.”

It hurt just to say it, but he knew that in the long run it would be for the best. He’d thought he could handle it, but if something like that happened again, he knew he wouldn’t be able to keep up the act.

Keith froze. He didn’t turn around from where he was standing immediately, and when he did, his expression was blank.

“Why?”

Shiro opened his mouth, unsure.

“You know why.”

Keith’s expression faltered, and he looked away, lips curling up into a nasty smile.

“Right,” he said. He ran his fingers through his sweaty hair, then laughed without humor. “Yeah, guess it was getting a little emotional back there. Shoulda known you’d notice.”

“I’m sorry,” Shiro whispered. He dragged his hand down his face. “I’m sorry, Keith.”

“You shouldn’t be sorry,” Keith said. He sounded so _sad,_ and it only made the ache sharper. “I knew this would happen eventually. It’s fine.”

Shiro laughed, low and unhappy. “Was I that obvious?”

“What?”

“I just—” Shiro leaned back on his hands, tipping his head towards the ceiling to keep his face hidden from view. “I don’t know how to not love you. I’m sorry.”

Silence.

Shiro stood up and started moving towards the bathroom, but between one step and another Keith burst into motion, slamming him back onto his bed.

“Whoa, Keith!” Shiro exclaimed, scrambling to right himself. Keith hovered above him, looking crazed. His eyes were shining bright, focused solely on Shiro.

“What did you just say?”

“I—you know what I said.”

“You didn’t mean that like friends, did you?”

Shiro said nothing. He couldn’t.

“Did you mean it?” Keith pressed. When Shiro didn’t reply, he laid a hand on his knee and wiggled it. “Shiro.”

Shiro bit his lip. He nodded.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Keith—”

He was interrupted by a pair of lips covering his own, pushing much more insistently than they had ever before. Keith was kissing him like his life depended on it, crowding Shiro against the sheets, like he was trying to tell Shiro something through touch alone. 

By the time he pulled away Shiro was breathless, his chest heaving.

Keith stared at him for a while longer. Then he covered his face with his hands and laughed.

“We are so _stupid.”_

“What?” Shiro blinked at him. He repeated himself, because Keith was leaning back on his ass, laughing even harder now. “What?”

“Oh my god, you thought I meant—Shiro, do you have any idea how long I’ve been trying to convince myself to stop loving you?”

Shiro’s brain short-circuited. He opened his mouth, then closed it.

“What?” he managed to croak.

“You thought I meant you when I was saying it got emotional, but I meant _me.”_ Keith grinned, abandoning the heart-broken version of himself that Shiro had failed to recognize, pulling Shiro by his shoulders until he was sitting up.

“You don’t love me,” Shiro said. He scooted backwards, staring at Keith like he didn’t understand what he was saying. “I don’t even…”

“I love you,” Keith said, his expression turning serious. “I’ve always loved you, Shiro. How could you not see that?”

“But as a friend,” Shiro insisted.

Keith threw his hands in the air. “I don’t have sex with Lance, and he’s my friend! Come on, Shiro, you know me.”

Shiro did know him. He knew him so well that he hadn’t considered it—he hadn’t even wanted to consider it, because that meant he’d have to consider the alternative, and thinking he didn’t love Shiro was easier than hoping he might and being wrong.

But if Keith meant that—why wouldn’t he—then he didn’t need to hope.

Shiro started grinning. He covered his mouth with his hand, but it wasn’t enough to hide it.

“I love you,” Keith said, quieter now. He kissed the shell of his ear, drawing a giggle out of Shiro. “I love you, baby. And I hate myself. I’m such a fucking _idiot.”_

“You’re not an idiot,” Shiro said. He couldn’t believe this was happening. “We’re _both_ idiots.”

He couldn’t stop smiling. It was finally hitting him that Keith really meant it: he loved Shiro the way Shiro loved him and the two of them had been avoiding admitting to their feelings out of a fear that didn’t make any sense now that he thought about it.

“I love you,” Shiro said, just because he could. His heart swelled when he did and he grinned at Keith, who returned his expression.

“I love you, too.” Keith’s smile went crooked the way it did when he was trying not to smile so hard and it made Shiro want to _melt._  Even though they were sweaty and gross, Keith had never looked more beautiful than in that moment. 

“Does this mean we’re actually dating now?” Keith asked hopefully.

“I hope so.” Shiro chuckled, taking Keith’s hand and threading their fingers. He felt like he was going through whiplash; they would have things to talk about after this, but for now, he wanted to revel. “Would you like go out with me, Keith?”

Keith smirked. “You asking me to go steady, stud?”

“Yes.” Shiro smiled, leaning forward to kiss him softly on the mouth. “Yes, I am.”

**Author's Note:**

> I usually don't post my tumblr stuff on ao3 (usually just sloppy oneshots), but I saw a few people had been trying to find it and I want to make it easier for those people to bookmark/archive if they'd like, so I figured I'd toss it up here!


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